Singularity - PChttp://www.gameinformer.com/games/singularity/b/pc/default.aspxen-USTelligent Community 1.5.134.12297 (Build: 5.5.134.12297)A Trip Down A Rabbit Hole With Recognizable Lininghttp://www.gameinformer.com/games/singularity/b/pc/archive/2010/06/29/a-trip-down-a-rabbit-hole-with-recognizable-lining.aspxTue, 29 Jun 2010 11:58:00 GMT79ef0c18-1c65-4225-984f-fdaeab0f0862:391888Andrew Reiner0<p><img src="http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/activision/singularity/singularity1149-610.jpg" style="max-width:610px;" border="0" alt="" /></p>
<p>Singularity is a thrilling, provocative, yet oddly familiar journey
through the fabric of time. In this alternate take on historical events,
Joseph Stalin&rsquo;s role in the Cold War is heightened when Russian
scientists discover a new element on the island of Katorga-12. This
element holds untold power, and even though it&rsquo;s unstable, Stalin
accelerates the experiments. Death, contamination, and unexplainable
phenomena are all Russia has to show for its efforts. Katorga-12 is
quarantined and forgotten. History stays the course until you arrive on
the island in 2010.</p>
<p>Katorga-12 is a place of scientific wonder and
supernatural horror. Rather than letting players free fall down this
rabbit hole, Raven Software sends them down in a bathysphere. Katorga-12
is bathed in Russian colors and propaganda, but the architectural
design feels like it was stripped from the notebook of BioShock&rsquo;s Andrew
Ryan. This Russian base has an amusement park feel to it, and just like
Ryan&rsquo;s Rapture, its history is detailed in audio recordings, video
reels, scientist notes, and hastily written wall messages. The guiding
voice even bears a physical resemblance to Andrew Ryan, who (surprise,
surprise) tries to blow your mind in a similar way to Ryan&rsquo;s &ldquo;would you
kindly&rdquo; reveal.</p>
<p>Raven doesn&rsquo;t hide the fact that Singularity is
heavily influenced by BioShock. Rather, the developer uses this familiar
design to paint a unique picture. Sure, I found myself thinking about
Ayn Rand&rsquo;s objectivism at certain points, but this story&rsquo;s most
intriguing moments are tied to the greed of an empire and the
conflicting voices within it. Raven does a phenomenal job delivering the
fiction. The experiments, and people conducting them, are fascinating
and believable. This tale runs out of magic roughly halfway through the
game, but it picks up in the later stages and concludes with three
satisfying alternate endings. The good ending, if it can be called that,
made me do something I never thought I would in a game &ndash; a powerful
moment, to say the least.</p>
<p>Singularity&rsquo;s gameplay starts strong and
ramps up as the adventure ages. Thanks to a time manipulation device,
your protagonist can degenerate or revitalize the age of an object. This
device can revert war-torn staircases and rusted electrical boxes to
as-good-as-new states. A handful of great puzzles are attached to
environmental repair, but these opportunities are surprisingly rare.
When they pop up, Raven recycles the same techniques used in previous
puzzles.</p>
<p>Most of the time powers are reserved for combat.
Singularity makes you feel like a badass with its excellently crafted
gunplay. Throwing time manipulation into the arsenal makes you feel like
an unstoppable god. Pointing a finger at a Russian soldier can lead to
his body aging a thousand years in a second. Highly agile enemies that
bounce off of the walls and cloak on the ground can be frozen in a
temporal distortion bubble. As they sit there in a helpless state, you
can fill their bodies with as many bullets as you want. Slowing time
turns sniping into one of the most relaxing actions I&rsquo;ve come across in a
game. I rarely died in Singularity, but that doesn&rsquo;t mean it lacks
challenge or excitement. Most combat scenarios unfold with a
high-octane, &ldquo;use everything you have in your arsenal&rdquo; urgency. New
enemy types, powers, and weapons are doled out all the way up to the
final conflict.</p>
<p>I jokingly told my co-workers that Singularity is
more BioShock 2 than BioShock 2. While meant as a subtle jab at
Singularity&rsquo;s &ldquo;borrowed&rdquo; designs, this statement relates to finding a
gaming experience that transports players to a new world filled with
discovery and the unexpected. Singularity&rsquo;s greatest shared quality with
BioShock is Raven&rsquo;s realization that gamers want new experiences, not
another taste of the same trending flavor.</p>
<p>This can even be said
of Singularity&rsquo;s multiplayer component. Rather than making sure it has
every mode from every other FPS, this experience focuses on something
different: creatures versus soldiers. Several beasts from the
single-player game, including the basketball-sized phase tick, are
playable, and prove to be exhilarating weapons in their own right. The
multiplayer experience is a good time &ndash; and quite different than
single-player (most time powers have been excised) &ndash; but it doesn&rsquo;t have
any depth or a progression for players to follow. At the most, it&rsquo;s a
fun distraction. The single-player game, however, should not be missed.</p><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.gameinformer.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=391888" width="1" height="1">ShooterPCSingularityfpsreviewactivisionXbox 360Time Is On Your Side In Raven Software's Upcoming Action Sci-Fi Shooterhttp://www.gameinformer.com/games/singularity/b/pc/archive/2009/10/01/preview.aspxWed, 30 Sep 2009 19:19:00 GMT79ef0c18-1c65-4225-984f-fdaeab0f0862:3925Adam Biessener3http://www.gameinformer.com/games/singularity/b/pc/rsscomments.aspx?WeblogPostID=3925http://www.gameinformer.com/games/singularity/b/pc/archive/2009/10/01/preview.aspx#comments<p><a href="http://gameinformer.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00.00.00.21.05/1541.sing1.jpg"><img src="http://gameinformer.com/resized-image.ashx/__size/610x0/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00.00.00.21.05/1541.sing1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a></p>
<p>We already knew about Singularity&rsquo;s Time Manipulation Device, which
allows players to move objects along their own personal timeline, and
the modern sci-fi thriller plotline, which has an amoral Russian
millionaire trying to revive disastrous experiments from Stalin&rsquo;s time.
It&rsquo;s the new combat details that have us interested now. <br /><br />Two
newly revealed elements promise to give players more interesting
choices in battle. By manipulating the environment or enemies using the
TMD, players can set up conflicts and take advantage of the chaos. The
time-phased creatures that inhabit Singularity&rsquo;s island locale and the
Russian Spetsnaz antagonists are as hostile to each other as they are
to the player. Letting them thin each other out can be a very powerful
tactic.<br /><br />Soul Leeches are an enemy we haven&rsquo;t seen before. These
nasty little airborne creatures attack in swarms, attempting to latch
onto a human and take over his body. Should they be successful, the
victim becomes a Zek &ndash; a phasing monstrosity that attacks the Soul
Leeches&rsquo; enemies. The trick is to disturb dormant Leeches while
Spetsnaz are nearby, creating a situation much easier to deal with than
taking on either the creatures or the Russians individually.<br /><br />Zeks
are humanoid beasts that possess a primitive, feral intelligence and
prefer to attack in packs. Some fling everything from barrels to pipes
or wrenches at their foes at range, while others charge into melee to
tear enemies to bits with powerful strikes. Unfortunately for their
human prey, they can temporarily phase out of time, becoming immune to
normal attacks. One can surmise that special weapons like the E99
pistol &ndash; a powerful gun that fires an explosive slug that can be guided
from a third-person camera &ndash; might get around this restriction, however.<br /><br />It&rsquo;s
good to see some more information that separates Singularity from the
sci-fi action-thriller pack. We&rsquo;re looking forward to seeing what other
tricks Raven has up its collective sleeve in the months leading up to
the game&rsquo;s launch. </p>
<div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.gameinformer.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=3925" width="1" height="1">ShooterPCPreviewSingularity